Colagiovanni Takes Earl Halaquist Memorial Patriot Sprint A-Main Saturday At Fonda

Story By: PAUL HARKENRIDER / PATRIOT SPRINT TOUR – FONDA, NY – The old saying of “Long Time Coming” played up to its name on Saturday night as multi-time podium finisher on the Patriot Sprint Tour, Paulie Colagiovanni finally picked up a win in Patriot Sprint Tour competition.

Although Colagiovanni has won several A-Mains with other 360 sanctioning bodies, this is Colagiovanni’ s first A Main win with the Patriots where he pocketed $3,000 plus lap money in the Earl Halaquist memorial.

Colagiovanni started on the front row alongside local favorite Danny Varin who took command in the opening laps. That lead did not last long as Colagiovanni would take the lead coming out of four to the start finish line and was officially scored the race leader on lap three.

On this lap, Mike Kiser would get spun around in turn two but was able to keep it going and the race stayed green until he entered turn three where Kiser got put on his side bringing out the red flag.

The field would re-fire with Colagiovanni as the race leader over Varin, Jordan Thomas, Jeff Trombley and Davie Franek.

Colagiovanni would pull away, but on this restart, Davie Franek went to the top and got by both Trombley and Thomas for third. As Colagiovanni was starting to pull away, the battle for second would start to heat up between Franek and Varin. Franek was able to get by Varin on lap ten and start to track down the race leader.

Lap traffic would start to become an obstacle for Colagiovanni as this would allow both Franek and Varin to get back into contention for the race lead. Colagiovanni was however the stronger car getting by lap traffic and would start to once again pull away through the second half of the race.

It was a no contest for Colagiovanni as he dominated the A Main winning the Earl Halaquist memorial and his first career Patriot Sprint Tour A Main.

Franek seemed to be losing less control of his car in the closing laps where Varin would get back by him with two laps to go. Varin would take home second followed by Franek, Jordan Thomas and a late charging, Chad Miller would complete the top five.

Although Franek would finish third, he was able to maintain his point lead over Jordan Thomas who trailed by one point heading into the night.

Heat race winners went to Colagiovanni, Chad Miller and Jeremiah Munson who was pulling double duty as he also was competing in the sportsman division at Fonda Speedway.

The dash win went to Chuck Hebing while the B-Main went to Steve Glover.

The Patriots will be off for almost the entire month of July now due the border crossing restrictions and the three-day weekend at Can-Am, Brockville and Cornwall is now canceled.

The next scheduled race will now be at Outlaw Speedway on Friday, July 30 for the Outlaw Summer Nationals.

Patriot Sprint Tour Quick Results

A Main: 1) 10- PAULIE COLAGIOVANNI (1) 2) 00- Danny Varin 3) 28f- Davie Franek 4) 79- Jordan Thomas 5) 88c- Chad Miller 6) 98- Joe Trenca 7) 3a- Jeff Trombley 8) 9- Josh Pienazek 9) 45- Chuck Hebing 10) 90- Matt Tanner 11) 51- Jerimiah Munson 12) 10c- Jeff Cook 13) 5k- Jake Karklin 14) 2- Dave Axton 15) 67- Steve Glover 16) 69k- Floyd Billington 17) 42- Jesse Pruchnik 18) 88- Travis Billington 19) 14b- Brett Wright 20) 29- Dalton Herrick 21) 61- Will Hull 22) 99- Mike Kiser

Heat 1: 1) 10- Paulie Colagiovanni 2) 98- Joe Trenca 3) 3a- Jeff Trombley 4) 14- Brett Wright 5) 88- Travis Billington 6) 67- Steve Glover 7) 3p- Link Pettit 8) 09- Clint Roehers

Heat 2: 1) 88- Chad Miller 2) 79- Jordan Thomas 3) 45- Chuck Hebing 4) 10- Jeff Cook 5) 9- Josh Pienazek 6) 99- Mike Kiser 7) 69k- Floyd Billington 8) 21- Will Glover

Heat 3: 1) 51- Jerimiah Munson 2) 00- Danny Varin 3) 28f- Davie Franek 4) 5k- Jake Karklin 5) 42- Jesse Pruchnik 6) 29- Dalton Herrick 7) 61- Will Hull 8) 41J- Josh Flint

Bonnell’s Rod Shop Dash for Cash: 1) 45- Chuck Hebing 2) 99- Mike Kiser 3) 5K- Jake Karklin 4) 9- Josh Pienazek 5) 10- Jeff Cook 6) 14b- Brett Wright

B-Main 1) 67- Steve Glover 2) 90- Matt Tanner 3) 69- Floyd Billington 4) 61- Will Hull 5) 21- Will Glover (DNQ) 6) 3p- Link Petit (DNQ) 7) 41J- Josh Flint (DNS) 8) 09- Clint Roehers